Lelouch admired his handiwork for a moment longer, before turning his attention back to the green-haired girl. Wordlessly, he pulled out a Rhodes Island emergency transponder and placed it on her arm. She appeared to be dead, but the Emperor and the High Priest had both proven that looking dead was not the same as being dead.
Suddenly, a Knightmare charged through the wall. After a moment of confusion, she turned her attention toward the former prince.
"And what is a private doctor doing here of all places?"
"I order you to come out at once!"
"Just who the hell do you think you are to order me?"
So it seemed visual contact was needed to use his power. Oh well. He always had a backup plan.
"My name is Allen Spacer, and my father's a duke. My ID card's in my breast pocket. When you've verified who I am, I'd like to request your protection."
Lelouch did actually have an ID in his breast pocket, but that was just an excuse to get her out of her Knightmare so that he could use his new power to force her to relinquish her knightmare, something she fell for hook, line, and sinker.
Boarding the machine, Lelouch briefly considered shooting the woman, but decided against it - if only because he would've hit the green-haired girl as well.
About a minute after he left, Viletta Nu wondered what the hell had just happened.
XXXXX
At the Ashford Academy girl's locker room, the swim club was getting in uniform for their next practice. Shirley Fenette, a member of said club, had just finished putting her suit on when she received a phone call - and from the last person she had been expecting, too.
"Ah, Lulu? What in the world have you been doing? Where are you now? If you keep cutting class, you'll get held back."
"Are you near a tv?" asked Lelouch.
"A tv?"
"Sorry, this is important."
"Hang on," stated Shirley, making her way over to her clubmates' portable televison. "Hey, could you change the channel?"
"Huh?" asked one of the girls. "To what?"
"The news," said Lelouch, which Shirley relayed to her companions. "Is there anything about Shinjuku?"
Shirley observed the program for a moment. "...Nothing except for traffic restrictions."
"Why is it restricted?"
"They aren't saying."
When Lelouch didn't answer, Shirley immediately became suspicious. "Oh, you're gambling again! Don't you remember what happened last month because of your gambling habit?"
"Yes, I do Shirley," spoke Lelouch, in an oddly calm voice. "But that's not why I am calling."
"Then why are you calling?"
"I've been asked to perform my Art ahead of schedule."
All of the other girls were confused by this remark, but their thoughts soon turned to alarm when they saw the color seem to drain from Shirley's face. Oddly, her horn ornaments went from limply curling to standing strait up on her head alongside the loss of color in her face.
"...Oh," went Shirley, voice sounding dead.
"Yeah. I'm sorry about that."
"No, its fine. Should I tell Nunna and Sayoko that you will be home a little late?"
"I think my boss already told them."
"Okay. Oh, and stay safe...Zero."
The last word was said so softly that no one but Lelouch heard it, who smiled softly at her response.
"Of course I will, Merrow."
XXXXX
Hanging up, Lelouch observed the battlefield around him. Japanese civilians were running in terror, with many already being directed underground by people Lelouch recognized as Azazel staff - be it the infected or numbers, they would treat any who were oppressed, as well as those who belonged to the oppressors' class but showed sympathy to the oppressed.
"Hello, Zero?" asked a familiar voice. "Do you copy?"
"Yes Doctor, I copy. What's happening?"
"Clovis has mobilized his entire royal guard. and he's officially given orders to kill everyone in Shinjuku. We've mobilized all available combat operators, but it's going to take a little bit for everyone to get there."
"I see. We need to get a force up now to help stem the tide."
"Correct. I do not wish to put the freedom fighters who started this under too much stress, but could you convince them to assist us?"
"I was already planning on doing that anyway, actually."
"Splendid. By the way, your friend in the red glasgow is nearing a train carrying additional Sutherlands. Closure is transmitting me the access codes now."
A predatory smile crept on Lelouch's face. "Excellent. Can you give me the channel that the terrorists are using?"
"Already on it."
XXXXX
Kallen wondered when things had gone wrong today.
Then she remembered when Tamaki screwed up Naoto's plan, and found her answer.
Still, that didn't exactly make her happy, especially since she was now being chased by a pair of Sutherlands, lead by one Jeremiah Gottwald (not that she knew who he was).
And she only had thirty minutes left on her energy filler. Damn it!
'The West Entrance. Use the tracks to move toward the West Entrace.'
Kallen's eyes widened in surprise as the new voice filled her comms. "Who are you?"
'That doesn't matter right now. If you want to win, follow my directions.'
Kallen's eyes widened yet again. "To win?" Instantly, Kallen's attention was hooked, and she obeyed the commands offered, jumping onto the nearby tracks and continuing her retreat.
'Excellent, it seems that your victory is now assured. There is an oncoming train, jump onto it. Don't worry about your pursuers, I have someone en-route to deal with them.'
Kallen heeded the voice's advice. As she wondered about who that help was, she noticed that there was an odd sound filling the air, as if someone was using a jet plane nearby. The source soon revealed itself as what appear to a girl with a...dragon tail?...and a strange looking mask. Also, she wielded some kind of sword.
And she was wearing a jet-pack. Somehow.
Kallen watched as the girl raced behind her, where it soon became apparent she was on a collision course with one of the two Britannian Knightmares following her. As Kallen tried to turn back to save the girl, one of the enemy Knightmares fire a slash harken at the girl...which she promptly blocked with her sword. The girl followed it up by pointing her blade at the Sutherland, which instantly burst into flames.
The other Britannian pilot stared at this in shock, only to take fire from someone in the distance. Sensing defeat, Jeremiah ejected - they'd one this skirmish, but the battle wasn't over yet.
Kallen just stared on in shock for a moment, before noticing the girl making her way toward her. "..Just...who is that girl?"
"She'll tell you soon enough," spoke the mysterious voice from before. Oh, and while I have no interest in revealing my name just yet, call me Zero. Your friends are on the way, and the tools for your victory are within that train."
Sure enough, Ohgi and everyone else arrived moments later. A quick look inside the train resulted in a round of gasps - within were a shipment of Sutherlands. Now they had a real way to fight back against Britannia on even footing.
"Enjoy my gift to you?"
"What the..who the hell are you?" questioned Tamaki.
"He says his name is Zero," answered Kallen.
"Thank you, woman in the red Glasgow. Now, how long do you have left on your energy filter?"
"Um, about fifteen minutes."
"Then recharge it. You'll need a full filter for what happens next."
XXXXX
"Thank you for assisting Lelouch, Talulah."
"No problem, Doctor," replied the Draco, the former leader of Reunion. "So, what happens next?"
"We've managed to break into their network," answered Closure. "It looks like they've diverted Command to General Bartley Asperius. Bartley's never had much challenge when fighting any of the resistance groups except for the JLF, so he should be easy to overwhelm. Also, Lelouch, there's some kind of experimental weapon here, apparently made under your brother Schneizel's Camelot unit. We haven't been able to break into their channels, so we have no idea what the weapon is, though we're pretty sure its a Knightmare."
"Understood. Keep us informed."
"We will. Mudrock, are you ready to move out?"
"Let's get moving."
XXXXX
Naomi Inoue, designated P-3 by Zero, charged forward, catching the Britannian forces offguard. Two were gunned down in the initial shock, while a third was cut down by her teammates. A fourth took aim, only to be crushed by their ally, Mudrock. Inoue was surprised that the man used a hammer to crush their mutual foe, and more shocked when she saw how effective said hammer was.
A group of tanks soon moved to intercept the team, but before Inoue could go on the offensive, her companion raised his hand in a halt gesture, before placing both hands on the ground. A moment later, the terrain seemed to liquify, causing the tanks to be submerged within. The crews hastily evacuated when the ground hardened once more, leaving the rebels free to advance.
XXXXX
Atop the roof of the various buildings still standing in Shinjuku, sniper operators hopped around, exploiting jetpacks to cross the longest of distances. Exusiai had to grab Adnachiel when he almost slipped off the top of one of the roofs, to his immense embarrassment.
Of course, when they turned their weapons on the Britannian aerial units and Knightmares, they made mincemeat of their opponents.
"Exusiai, how are things up top?"
"Going great, Texas. How's the Emperor?"
"Taking a joyride with a Britannian Knightmare while Bison blocks all the bullets coming their way."
"Emperor, please stop running through buildings. My stomach can't take anymore collissions."
Texas and Exusiai both felt sorry for the Forte boy, even if they were only a little sorry.
"Also, Croissant, stop trying to surf on your shield. Sora, stop encouraging her!"
"Kid," spoke the Emperor, "relax."
Bison just groaned.
Now Texas and Exusiai were laughing at Bison's discomfort.
XXXXX
"P-5, take out their air support!"
Groaning, Tamaki nonetheless complied, firing his Sutherland's rifle at the approaching helicopters. He couldn't deny that taking the Brits down a peg or two felt nice, but he'd have preferred taking orders from someone who's face he knew. And didn't sound like a Britannian.
Sudden movement to his left flank alerted Tamaki to an APC firing at him, but none of the shots connected as a woman dropped in front of him, blocking the bullets with a...shield? What, she was blocking machine gun bullets with a shield?
And then she pulled out what looked like a pick and threw it at the APC, causing the vehicle to explode.
Tamaki wondered if he had slept enough last night - he knew he hadn't had any saki. Something must be making him see things...right?
XXXXX
Nearl groaned - the landing had done a number on her legs.
At least her comrade in arms was safe, though. Taking down the enemy was also a plus.
"Hellagur, how long until all civilians are evacuated?"
"A few more minutes," replied the former Ursus general. "At this rate, though, Zero and his temporary followers might actually be able to take down the G1 base. The encirclement is already wavering."
"Understood."
"Ms, Nearl, we may have a problem," intoned Closure.
"Speak."
"We just intercepted a transmission from the G1 - Clovis is authorizing the Camelot Unit to deploy their new weapon. We also learned what the weapon is - it's a prototype Knightmare Frame called the Lancelot."
"Do you wish for me to intercept it?"
"Yes, but we also need to avoid letting Clovis know how strong our operators are. So you'll be engaging the Lancelot with two other operators."
"Who will they be?"
"The first one is Patriot..."
Nearl grimaced for a moment, then calmed herself. "I can do that. And the second?"
"...Blemishine."
"...Oh."
XXXXX
The Lancelot surged forward, using its slash harkens to disable two of the terrorist Knightmares. The rest tried to fall back, though they too soon found themselves offline.
Suzaku couldn't help but marvel at the machine's power. "Yes, I can do this. I can stop all this senseless violence."
"Suzaku, look out!"
Surprised by Cecile's words, Suzaku turned to his left, only to barely pull away from a massive shockwave, which completely tore up the road it had come from. As the dust settled, Suzaku was surprised to find three figures emerging from it - two women dressed in white, knightly armor, while the other appeared to be a man wearing intimidating black combat armor - military, to be precise.
For a moment, Suzaku wondered just what was going on with these people.
Then the trio charged, and this stopped making sense.
Wielding a mace, a sword, and a halberd, they struck at the Lancelot, and to Suzaku's amazement, actually managed to activate the Blaze Luminous Shield.
"Kururugi, I'm detecting a flare in the Lancelot's shields," spoke Lloyd Asplund, creator of the Lancelot. "Did the enemy use explosives?"
"No, its...people."
"Say again?"
"They're...sending a trio of people to attack with melee weapons."
"Kururugi, do not make jokes!" shouted Viceroy Clovis.
"I am not joking, my lord!" shouted Suzaku on refelx. "I mean no disrespect, but-"
"Feeds are coming in now!" shouted Cecile Croomy, Lloyd's aid. "Now we can see what...wait, how are they damaging the Lancelot's shields?!"
Suzaku wasn't able to throw out an answer before the trio launched a new assault, forcing him to give ground. Regretfully, he fired the slash harkens at the women, only for their shields to deflect the projectiles away from them. As Suzaku tried to figure out just how they were managing to hold their ground, he noticed that the black-armored warrior's halberd was now glowing with red light. Then, the weapon was hurled at him, and to Suzaku's amazement managed to rupture the shields and inflict a cut on the Lancelot.
Suzaku winced when Lloyd shrieked in horror at the blow and begged him to take evasive action.
Somehow, the Black-armored warrior managed to retrieve his blade and threw again. This time, though, Suzaku used one of the slash harkens to parry the blow, before reluctantly hurling a destroyed car at the armored figure with his remaining harken. Said car was split in two by one of the armored women, its halves impacting harmlessly on the ground.
The black armored figure suddenly flinched for some reason, before ramming his blade into the ground, sending for a shockwave that forced Suzaku to brace for impact. When the dust settled, the figures had disappeared.
Suzaku blinked in surprise at this, before surging off to try and find the rest of the terrorists.
XXXXX
"All civilians have been evacuated, Zero," spoke Hellagur. "Azrael is already treating the injured."
"Excellent. Doctor, what about the rest of the encirclement?"
"Britannian morale is breaking, Lelouch," spoke the chief neurologist of Rhodes Island. "As is, I've already figured out a way for your 'followers' to break free."
"May I hand command over to you?"
"Please do."
"Thank you. Now I have some questions to ask Clovis."
"I hope he answers them to your liking."
Smirking, Lelouch deactivated the communicator, before making his way into the G1. All of the staff had been dealt with, leaving only Clovis for him to challenge.
Clovis was many things, but brave? Nope.
XXXXX
Clovis glared at the masked man holding him at gunpoint, but survival trumped pride here. Reluctantly, he opened up a channel and ordered his men to retreat, and to allow the Elevens to retreat unmolested.
"There, I have done as you requested. So, what would you request of me now?" he questioned idly, more than a little unhappy at the circumstances. "Sing a few ballads, maybe play a few rounds of chess?"
"That does have a familiar ring to it," spoke the masked figure.
Clovis rose an eyebrow at this, something his captor noticed. "I apologize. It has been a few years since our last game. You always lost against me, but you never seemed to mind."
"What?"
"You should know. The games we played at the Aries Villa."
Clovis' eyes widened at that. "Wh-who are you?"
The figure promptly took off his mask, revealing a face that looked like one Clovis thought he would never see again outside of several old photos from happier times.
"Lelouch vi Britannia, eldest child and only son of Empress Marianne vi Britannia, at your service."
"Le-Lelouch?! But I thought you were-"
"Dead?" The long-thought dead prince smiled. "Oh no, I am very much alive. And I have returned to change everything."
XXXXX
AN: TBH, I don't particularly like the battle for Shinjuku, and I'd rather skip past it than try to rewrite it, but Shinjuku is so important for the plot of Code Geass that I feel obligated to write about it if I start a crossover before it happens in canon and can't butterfly it out of existence. So I apologize if this chapter feels half assed.
Now, I did have plans to show the Doctor commanding some of Rhodes Island, but I decided to shelve them for a later chapter with much higher stakes in play, just to emphasize how much better the Doctor compares to Lelouch. Don't worry, you'll get to see the Doctor being the feared commander he is.
And yeah. Shirley knows that Lelouch is Zero. The incident where Lelouch had to deal with people who lost to him that she mentioned when talking to Milly is related to that. And if you're wondering, the horns on her head are real. As for what they look like, they're essentially nudibranch (sea slug) antenna/eyes stalks, which occupy a similar location to the horns that Mutsu from Kancolle has.
Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
